A land where every villa has its own PRIVATE INFINITY POOL!!! Yes, that is the land I live in, or, lived in.
On a recent trip to the beautiful island of Bali, Indonesia, a good friend of my wife and I (shout out to Estephanie!) found a gem tucked away in the lush hills of the artsy town of Ubud, The Payogan Villa Resort & Spa. One of the main attractions of this resort are the guests own private infinity edge pool. Don’t believe it? Neither did I. Being a pool professional this obviously sparked my interest and wound up being one of the highlights of trip.
On a recent trip to the beautiful island of Bali, Indonesia, a good friend of my wife and I (shout out to Estephanie!) found a gem tucked away in the lush hills of the artsy town of Ubud, The Payogan Villa Resort & Spa. One of the main attractions of this resort are the guests own private infinity edge pool. Don’t believe it? Neither did I. Being a pool professional this obviously sparked my interest and wound up being one of the highlights of trip.
Upon arrival with our transport, we were greeted with extremely friendly and welcoming staff that provided us with a cold beverage on a hot, muggy, muggy, muggy day. Did I mention it was muggy? The tropical fruity Balinese concoction which consisted of lime, guava and other fruits almost hit the spot. A bit of rum would have tied it all together. While chugging this non-alcoholic drink trying to finish it before the ice melted, we were given a, sort of, orientation to the resort. Where everything was located and what services they had to offer quickly slid to the bottom of my excitement.
I thought, “Just get me to the pools already would ya?” I guess I’ve never been a very patient guy. Handsome I’ll give you that, but not very patient.
I thought, “Just get me to the pools already would ya?” I guess I’ve never been a very patient guy. Handsome I’ll give you that, but not very patient.
The woman welcoming us to the resort finished her mandated speech and invited us to look off the balcony by the front desk. Our eyes lit up and our jaws dropped. There it was. The money shot of the resort. From here you could see the grounds, roofs of the villas, spa, restaurant, and valley. This is what we were waiting for. It was beyond beautiful.
I immediately focused on the resort pool. This was the common pool where guests could all hang out with each other, but they didn’t. It was empty. Empty as the day was hot. It was a beautifully tiled, green, clover shaped infinity pool. Three tiers of edges created wide and stunning infinity falls that trickled a constant stream of water. The top tier (the pool on the right) was a shallow pool that lead to the main event. The main portion of the pool was the largest body of water. A peanut shaped pool about 4 feet deep in the shallows and 6 feet deep towards the edge. Brown tiles for the stairs walked gests into the shallow end. This is where the bar was. It was a swim up bar consisting of about 6 stools where guests could sit and drink Bin Tangs, all day. Sign me up! Swimming further past the bar along the square shaped, green stone tiles the pool gradually got deeper. In the center of the deep end was a stone carved water feature that rested right above the water line. A bench seat in the pool allowed guests to sit at the base of the statues for a Kodak moment. Further following the water, the main pool trickled into a holding pool. This last pool was shallow and just held the water that fell off the largest infinity edge to the catchment trench below. But this was no ordinary infinity edge. It was a waterfall. The water fell about 8 feet into the catchment system that looked more like a pond instead of a water catcher. Water from the pool trickled off the edge and slid down the tiled wall where wild vines flourished. This completed the rain forest look and seemed to seamlessly blend into the surroundings. One of the nicest I’ve seen yet.
Just under the last infinity edge waterfall housed the equipment room. Three (3) pumps and four (4) sand filters powered the pool and water feature. Something was leaking. I don’t know what it was but the ground was soaking wet. All the electrical was ran and mounted about 4 feet off the ground. The plumbing was pretty clean, I must admit. I am pretty peculiar about my plumbing so that was the first thing I noticed. All pumps and filters were plumbed in line. Ball valves directed and controlled water flow. Nothing I saw in there was brand name that you would see here in the states. They seem to have all their own equipment manufactures somewhere closer.
Moving on, we were able to check into our villa. It was a 2 story 2 separate room villa. That’s perfect. We needed two rooms. The first thing we noticed was the bathroom. It was AMAZING. You would walk into the bathroom and there were 2 rooms, an inside room and an outside room. The inside room housed the mirrors, toilet, and counter space. The outside room was an outdoor room with a roof and 4 walls. The walls just didn’t go all the way up to the roof. This housed a stand up shower with no drain. The water would fall off the showering platform onto a bed of rocks. The water would drain through the rocks into the hidden drain. It was a very nice touch. 2 walls on the outdoor room had large white stone carvings. These carvings consisted of bathing women in some kind of a river or lake. The main attraction was the roman style bath tub. Big enough for a party but carved for two people laying down the length of the tub. We got our use of this tub for sure. Although the hot water only filled the tub about half way, it was more than enough.
Moving out to through the room to the balcony, there it was our own private infinity pool. One of the first things I notice was the privacy. It seems like from all the rooms, you couldn’t see anyone else’s pool. Obviously a great place to skinny dip. Too bad we had roomies.
Our pool was simply beautiful. It was about a 10k gallon pool with green brick tiles and brown accents tucked into a tile deck with ample sun bathing space. White Hayward main drain and white ringed light seemed a little out of place. Black would have gone better with the darker colored template.
I almost immediately stripped off my clothes and jumped in. The water felt so refreshing. The 90 degree 90% humidity weather was taking its toll on us. Crisp cool water was what the doctor ordered. I immediately noticed no chlorine. I didn’t bring my test kit but didn’t notice any chlorine either. Taking a closer look around showed algae growing on the walls and white main drain and return fittings. Oh well, I’ll jump in anyway. Everything else was pretty clean but there was debris on the bottom of the pool that got kicked up and the water got cloudy after we swam for a little bit. The next day they dropped in 3 tabs to the bottom of the pool. No floater or erosion feeder just dropped it to the bottom.
Our pool was simply beautiful. It was about a 10k gallon pool with green brick tiles and brown accents tucked into a tile deck with ample sun bathing space. White Hayward main drain and white ringed light seemed a little out of place. Black would have gone better with the darker colored template.
I almost immediately stripped off my clothes and jumped in. The water felt so refreshing. The 90 degree 90% humidity weather was taking its toll on us. Crisp cool water was what the doctor ordered. I immediately noticed no chlorine. I didn’t bring my test kit but didn’t notice any chlorine either. Taking a closer look around showed algae growing on the walls and white main drain and return fittings. Oh well, I’ll jump in anyway. Everything else was pretty clean but there was debris on the bottom of the pool that got kicked up and the water got cloudy after we swam for a little bit. The next day they dropped in 3 tabs to the bottom of the pool. No floater or erosion feeder just dropped it to the bottom.
The pool fell off the infinity edge to the catchment system below. The catcher wasn’t too wide. A lot of the water splashed outside of the wall and on to the grass below, especially when we were swimming. The catchment system drained into the equipment room under the pool. One pump and one sand filter. Something drained into a large square shaped pool under the pool. This may have been the infinity catchment system draining into a holding or buffer tank before going into the pump. My best guess is that this allowed for some breathing room for changing water levels from evaporation or splash out. Again, the floor was soaking wet. Something was leaking in there. The floor had a drain and not sure if that water was being reused or draining out. Overall it was a pretty simple and efficient equipment solution for an infinity pool.
The Payogan Resort is a little slice of heaven in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. Privacy, luxury, and your own infinity pool is the name of the game. The grounds are amazingly beautiful on the hills of a rainforest and very well kept. Room service, bars, restaurants, massages, and everything you would expect from a world class resort is available at an affordable price. But, me, being the pool guy made the pools the main attraction here. Somewhat well-kept and beautifully constructed they have opened my eyes to a new world of luxury pool construction. No more glass or ceramic tiles, brick and stone get me going.
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